Pat Metheny only has two hands and 10 fingers, but that won’t prevent him from performing on close to an orchestra’s worth of instruments at his Wednesday ﻿night solo concert at downtown’s Spreckels Theatre.

A 17-time Grammy Award winner and one of the most gifted and influential guitarists of the past three decades, Metheny stands out in any context. He’s demonstrated as much whether he’s working with rock and pop mavericks (David Bowie, Meshell Ndegeocello, ﻿Bruce Hornsby), jazz icons (Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Haden) or pioneering artists from around the globe (Brazil’s Milton Nascimento, India’s Trilok Gurtu, Germany’s Eberhard Weber).

But Metheny’s latest and most ambitious project is a one-man affair that finds him performing on two Yamaha Disklavier ﻿pianos, myriad percussion instruments (including jazz dynamo Jack DeJohnette’s drum set and Gary Burton’s vibraphone and marimba), an array of electric and acoustic guitars and basses, and much more.

You can hear the results on his technically dazzling new album, “Orchestrion” ﻿(Nonesuch Records), which at times sounds much like the seven-man Pat Metheny Group, minus everyone but Metheny himself. But for a truly eye-popping and ear-popping experience, run — don’t walk — to Metheny’s gig at the Spreckels.

Using solenoid- and pnuematic-powered electromechanical musical robots, he is able to simultaneously perform on an array of instruments, primarily by using his guitar as a triggering device. Or, as he recently told the Web site wired.com: “It’s not samples, it’s not looping — it’s something else. This is me playing with dozens of me ﻿in real time, and that’s a new thing.”

It remains to be seen how well Metheny can improvise with, well, himself. But even if his live “Orchestrion” foray fails to reach its full potential, it will be fascinating to watch him try.

Argh! Last night, ﻿it was fellow jazz guitar greats Bill Frisell and Anthony Wilson who performed here at two different venues — one downtown, the other in La Jolla — making it impossible for fans to attend both of their concerts.

Area music fans will face a similar dilemma next Wednesday, ﻿when the Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour ﻿band take to the stage at the Balboa Theatre only 30 minutes before Pat Metheny begins his one-man performance at the comparably sized Spreckels Theater.

Granted, these two downtown venues are only a few blocks apart. But it’s hard to imagine many fans who are willing to buy tickets for both concerts, only to have to leave one of the two early and rush over to catch part of the other.